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2016-01-17

白宮的賀詞

Washington, Jan. 16 (CNA) The White House offered its congratulations to
Taiwan's President-elect Tsai Ing-wen on winning the election Saturday and said
the United States "maintain(s) a profound interest in the
continuation" of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.

"The United States
congratulates Dr. Tsai Ing-wen on her victory in Taiwan's presidential
election. We also congratulate the people on Taiwan for once again demonstrating
the strength of their robust democratic system," said Myles Caggins, spokesman of the White House National Security Council.

"We maintain a profound
interest in the continuation of cross-Strait peace
and stability," he said in response
to CNA's request for comments on the result of Taiwan's presidential and
legislative elections.

"We look forward to working
with the new president and leaders from both parties to further strengthen
the unofficial relationship between the United States and the people of Taiwan,"
Caggins said.

Earlier in the day, the U.S. State
Department issued a similar statement on the election, congratulating
both Tsai and the people of Taiwan and adding that Taiwan's democratic system
will now undergo another peaceful transition of power.

The statement, issued in the name of spokesman John Kirby, also said
that the United States thanks President Ma Ying-jeou for his "efforts to develop a strong partnership
with the United States and applauds him for concrete steps he has taken to
improve cross-Strait ties in recent years."

"We hope that President Ma's
administration and the incoming administration will work constructively to
ensure a smooth transition and continue to promote peace and stability in the
region," it said.

The U.S. response came after Tsai's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)
won both Taiwan's presidency and legislature for the
first time in a landslide victory.

Tsai won the presidential election with 56.12 percent of the vote and
her party took 68 out of a total of 113 seats in the Legislative Yuan, becoming
the legislature's majority party for the first time in the DPP's 30-year
history.

China, which considers Taiwan part of its territory, is worried that its
cordial relations with Taiwan under the Ma administration may be reversed after
Tsai comes to office on May 20.

Both China and Ma's Kuomintang party have insisted on the concept of
there being only one China, with both sides of the
Taiwan Strait free to interpret what that China means.

They insisted that relations between the two sides be conducted under
that principle, a demand that Tsai and her independence-leaning party have
rejected.

(By Rita Cheng and Jay Chen; click here for
the full coverage of the elections.)